Earlier this year when researching bands for SXSW, we first discovered the Los Angeles surfer punksFIDLAR. It’s been an amazing whirlwind of a successful year for them. Showing up everywhere from Spin to MTV, it’s much different then how they originally began. When they started in 2009, seeing FIDLAR meant showing up to a house party and eventually having this exchange with one of them. Zac Carper, The bands guitarist and singer (well, one of ‘em) would hand you a red cup , throw an arm around your neck and probably end up blurting out how fucked up he was. Their set list would read more like a grocery list of party supplies than a list of songs: “Cocaine. Cheap Beer. Chinese weed. Four Loko.”

After a few years of being a band Zac still plugs in his pedals attached to a skate deck (“Pedal board”, get it?) and says “Hi We’re FIDLAR: F-I-D-L-A-R. It means ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s a Risk”. Seeing a FIDLAR set consists of drinking and dancing with people that are twice as drunk as you are while the band rips through songs about what they know best: The girl doesn’t call, my ex is a whore, I lost my phone, my car is a piece of shit, my friends are pieces of shit, I do too many drugs, I’m really awkward, I love Del Taco.

FIDLAR is Zac Carper, Elvis Kuehn, Brandon Schwartzel, and Max Kuehn. Elvis and Zac met at Kingsize Soundlabs in LA and recorded a ton of demos with the band before playing a live show. Their first show was on a FMLY bike ride at a skatepark in Culver City. Three years later the band has played with the Black Lips, OFF!, Japanther, Delta Spirit, Jeff The Brotherhood, and toured with The Hives. They’ve released two EP’s and just got back from touring Europe. We caught up with them back stage at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Listen to our interview with the guys, they were cool enough to smoke a joint with us in the Spin tent. You can find their latest tour dates, and see their latest music video here. They have also just released another EP to hold us over until January. This one is called SHIT WE RECORDED IN OUR BEDROOM.